Girl says her former coach molested her

CENTRAL - Sheriff's deputies have booked a Central man with sexual battery after a girl reported that he attacked her during a sleepover at her house when she was 12. She said she fended him off with a baseball bat.

Deputies arrested 34-year-old Philip Ziegler on Monday and booked him into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.

Investigators said the victim's doctor contacted them on March 13 after the girl told her doctor about the assault. Deputies spoke to her mother, who told them the victim said it happened a year and a half ago when she was 12 and Ziegler was her basketball coach.

Detectives said the girl told them Ziegler was at her home with his kids for a bonfire, and they all stayed overnight. The girl said Ziegler came into her room in the middle of the night and told her to get up, then started touching her in inappropriate ways, grabbing at her clothing and privates.

The girl told detectives she tried to run, but Ziegler picked her up off the ground so she couldn't. She said she was able to push away and grab the bat. When Ziegler tried to calm her down, she hit him with it repeatedly. She said Ziegler got angry and left the house, and later pretended the incident never happened.

Detectives brought Ziegler in for questioning and said he initially denied spending a night at the victim's home. They said he later admitted he did stay one night, but said he slept next to his children and did not touch or contact the victim.

Ziegler was released from jail on Tuesday after posting a $15,000 bond.